SteadyMed Raises $12.2M to Advance PAH Therapy

Specialty pharmaceutical company SteadyMed Ltd. recently raised $12.2 million in equity financing, co-led by subsidiaries of Federated Investors Inc. and Deerfield Management Company L.P., as well as existing shareholders from the company. The funding will be invested in SteadyMed’s therapeutic product candidates for the treatment of orphan diseases, including pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).

SteadyMed focuses on treatment options to address unmet medical needs, particularly orphan diseases, and other well-defined, specialty conditions. This new round of financing will support their PAH drug development process. As a result of this transaction, William Slattery, a partner at Deerfield, will be joining the Board of Directors of SteadyMed.

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“I look forward to contributing to SteadyMed’s mission, as a Board member and healthcare investor,” said Slattery, noting his enthusiasm for the company’s lead candidate for the treatment of PAH, called Trevyent, which uses their PatchPump technology to provide the vasodilatory prostacyclin analogue treprostinil. “This investment recognizes the clear potential of Trevyent for PAH and the benefit to patients that it may someday provide.”

Neither Trevyent or the PatchPump are currently FDA-approved. The PatchPump is described by the company as a novel, compact, pre filled, preprogrammed, disposable, parenteral drug administration platform. Trevyent is a development stage drug product that is delivered via SteadyMed’s PatchPump to administer treprostinil, which is used to treat Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension. The company explains that if approved, “Trevyent will come to the patient pre-programmed with the correct dose delivery rate and pre-filled with sterile, preservative free drug in a small, discreet, disposable and water resistant PatchPump.”

Slattery is an investor in both public and private companies focused on advancing treatment for PAH, for which there is currently no cure, as well as other orphan diseases. He has also been a partner at investment firm Deerfield since 2000, where he contributes to the company’s mission of improving healthcare by investing, educating and providing philanthropic support.

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“We are very pleased to have completed this latest round of financing, and I welcome Federated and Deerfield to our top-tier group of investors,” added the president and CEO of SteadyMed, Jonathan M.N. Rigby. “This year promises to be an important time for SteadyMed as we take the necessary steps to file for regulatory approval for Trevyent, our lead drug product candidate that utilizes our proprietary PatchPump technology in combination with treprostinil to treat PAH.”

In addition, the company has also recently announced a development and manufacturing agreement with Bespak Europe, a Consort Medical company and supplier of drug delivery devices for injectable and inhaled products. The two companies will join efforts to produce Trevyent, as they have already collaborated in the development of the novel PatchPump device, which will be used for the parenteral delivery of treprostinil.